Work to begin on £22 million road scheme

Work is to start on creating a new dual carriageway for a major route into Liverpool city centre on Monday (12 June).

National contractor Osborne is to begin widening the A565 (Great Howard Street/Derby Road) as part of a £22m road improvement scheme.

The first phase of the works will be at the prime city centre junction of Leeds Street and King Edward Street and will require off-peak lane closures between 9.30am to 3.30pm and 7pm to 6am. To minimise disruption two lanes will be kept open at peak-times.

During off-peak times, the junction may be reduced to single lane running and motorists heading north and east out of the city centre from The Strand are advised to expect extended journey times and consider using alternative routes. This part of the project is expected to be completed by Winter 2017.

At the same time, work will begin to widen Great Howard Street with one lane of the northbound carriageway heading to Bootle closed from Oil Street to Blackstone Street.

These works will take advantage of the current road closure where the Great Howard Street bridge is being replaced as part of a £10m project that will enable freight to travel to and from the new £400m Liverpool2 deep water container terminal, which is part of Peel Land and Trust’s £5.5bn Liverpool Waters scheme. The bridge is expected to complete in August and will see the road re-open.

The dualling works will require a permanent northbound lane restriction which will then move to the southbound side as the scheme progresses. This element of the project is anticipated to be completed by Spring 2018.

Upgrading the route, which handles traffic between Sefton and Liverpool along the northern docks, is a key element of a £100m regeneration drive in North Liverpool.

The new dual carriageway, part funded by the Liverpool City Region Growth Deal, will also pave the way for a major revamp of the historic Regent Road – aka “the Dock Road” – to make that more pedestrian and bike friendly, creating a continuous cycle route from Crosby to Liverpool.

The new dual carriageway, which includes improved paving, traffic signals and street lighting, will complete as follows:

Expected to finish by Summer 2019, the works are part of Liverpool City Council’s wider £250m Better Roads programme to improve the city’s road infrastructure and will be complemented by the creation of two new £20m waterfront link roads at the city centre end of the A565, which is being built to support a proposed new Cruise passenger facility.

Councillor Steve Munby, Liverpool’s Cabinet Member for highways, said: “Work on making the A565 a full dual carriageway is absolutely essential to the future economic success of the city. Once complete it will benefit millions of journeys every year and will stimulate the renaissance in the Atlantic Corridor. The scheme will give Regent Road a completely new lease of life, benefiting our plans for the Ten Streets creativity zone as well as Everton FC’s proposals for a new stadium.”

John Dowsett, Managing Director – Infrastructure at Osborne, said: “Starting these works is highly significant to us and we look forward to helping to improve the infrastructure for Liverpool’s city centre. This sees us working with forward thinking local authorities who recognise the collaborative approach we bring.”